---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It is easy to show that the ego ideal…"
description: "\"“It is easy to show that the ego ideal answers to everything that is expected of the higher nature of man. As a substitute for a longing for the father..."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/71b/sigmund-freud-360_atheism-religion_it-is-easy-to-show-that-the-ego-ideal-an_908500.jpg"
---

#  It is easy to show that the ego ideal answers to…

![“It is easy to show that the ego ideal answers to everything that is expected of the higher nature of man. As a substitute for a longing for the father, it contains the germ from which all religions have evolved.” quote by Sigmund Freud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/71b/sigmund-freud-360_atheism-religion_it-is-easy-to-show-that-the-ego-ideal-an_908500.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/71b/sigmund-freud-360_atheism-religion_it-is-easy-to-show-that-the-ego-ideal-an_908500.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/71b/sigmund-freud-360_atheism-religion_it-is-easy-to-show-that-the-ego-ideal-an_908500.jpg)

> ““It is easy to show that the ego ideal answers to everything that is expected of the higher nature of man. As a substitute for a longing for the father, it contains the germ from which all religions have evolved.””

[Sigmund Freud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sigmund-freud/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

The ego ideal replaces paternal longing, serving as the seed from which religions develop

**In simple terms:** Human aspirations shape belief systems

Key Takeaway

Recognize underlying drives in cultural origins

Themes

psychology religion human nature

Mood

analytical reflective

Type

psychological philosophical

When to use this quote

- analysis of myths
- counseling sessions
- cultural studies
- personal reflection

Key Concepts

Collective unconscious symbolic representation

Questions to Reflect On

- What role does the ego ideal play in modern spirituality?
- Can we separate cultural constructs from psychological needs?

A Different Perspective

Overemphasis on ego may ignore social factors

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Father](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/father/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Nature of man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature-of-man/) [Psychoanalysis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychoanalysis/) [Religion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religion/)

## Related quotes

> [It is easy to see that the ego is that part of the id which has been modified by the direct influence of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sigmund-freud/it-is-easy-to-see-that-the-ego-is-that-part-of-the-id-which-has-been/)

[Sigmund Freud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sigmund-freud/)

> [Our ego ideal is precious to us because it repairs a loss of our earlier childhood, the loss of our image of self as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/judith-viorst/our-ego-ideal-is-precious-to-us-because-it-repairs-a-loss-of-our/)

[Judith Viorst](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/judith-viorst/)

> [I know how you feel,(whn I'm around you ) in mind its like a spur wheel, i hav a little ego ideal, but ,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mercy/i-know-how-you-feel-whn-i-m-around-you-in-mind-its-like-a-spur-wheel/)

[Mercy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mercy/)

> [“Christianity rejects tolerance and demands choice, wherein lies its greatest flaw - one of a multitude of contradictions found throughout the Bible and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aaron-b-powell/christianity-rejects-tolerance-and-demands-choice-wherein-lies-its/)

[Aaron B. Powell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aaron-b-powell/)

> [“Sometimes people have been stepping so long, they have forgotten what it's like to be stepped on.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-lilly-conrad/sometimes-people-have-been-stepping-so-long-they-have-forgotten-what/)

Lauren Lilly Conrad

> [“Mr. Dawkins' assertions are self-refuting- ie. Actual infinity vs. potential infinity easily makes the most reasonable argument for theism and a Deity. Now, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-alan-woods/mr-dawkins-assertions-are-self-refuting-ie-actual-infinity-vs/)

[R. Alan Woods](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-alan-woods/)

> [The money was just coming so fast and so easy that my ego led me to believe that, 'Oh, this is my life forever.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/spencer-pratt/the-money-was-just-coming-so-fast-and-so-easy-that-my-ego-led-me-to/)

[Spencer Pratt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/spencer-pratt/)

> [I think it helps to have a good old-fashioned trajectory, plodding along. Obviously one has an ego and it's really easy to have that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-marie-duff/i-think-it-helps-to-have-a-good-old-fashioned-trajectory-plodding/)

[Anne-Marie Duff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-marie-duff/)

> [Ego is the greatest hurdle for your ascent. You see that ego is at a place where you have to just cross to go…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nirmala-srivastava/ego-is-the-greatest-hurdle-for-your-ascent-you-see-that-ego-is-at-a/)

[Nirmala Srivastava](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nirmala-srivastava/)

> [If you are going towards the easy, the ego starts dying. And when there is no ego left, you have arrived to your reality…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/if-you-are-going-towards-the-easy-the-ego-starts-dying-and-when-there/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [ Human nature has been sold short...\[humans have\] a higher nature which...includes the need for meaningful work, for responsibility, for creativeness, for being fair and… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-maslow/human-nature-has-been-sold-short-humans-have-a-higher-nature-which/)

[Abraham Maslow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-maslow/)

> [I want to be a member of the team that helps in any way possible for the evolution of people's souls. Because too much…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-trent-d-arby/i-want-to-be-a-member-of-the-team-that-helps-in-any-way-possible-for/)

[Terence Trent D'Arby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-trent-d-arby/)

> [From lower to the higher next, Not to the top, is Nature's text; And embryo Good, to reach full stature, Absorbs the Evil in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-russell-lowell/from-lower-to-the-higher-next-not-to-the-top-is-nature-s-text-and/)

[James Russell Lowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-russell-lowell/)

> [“It is our habit to say that while the lower nature can never understand the higher, the higher nature commands a complete view of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/it-is-our-habit-to-say-that-while-the-lower-nature-can-never/)

[George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/)

> [I have an unshakable belief that mankind's higher nature is on the whole still dormant. The greatest souls reveal excellencies of mind and heart…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-keller/i-have-an-unshakable-belief-that-mankind-s-higher-nature-is-on-the/)

[Helen Keller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-keller/)

## More by Sigmund Freud

> [Anatomy is destiny.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sigmund-freud/anatomy-is-destiny/)

[Sigmund Freud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sigmund-freud/)

> [“Woe to you, my Princess, when I come. I will kiss you quite red and feed you till you are plump. And if you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sigmund-freud/woe-to-you-my-princess-when-i-come-i-will-kiss-you-quite-red-and-feed/)

[Sigmund Freud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sigmund-freud/)

> [I take up the standpoint that the tendency to aggression is an innate, independent, instinctual disposition in man, and I come back now to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sigmund-freud/i-take-up-the-standpoint-that-the-tendency-to-aggression-is-an-innate/)

[Sigmund Freud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sigmund-freud/)

> [“Ko postavlja pitanje o smislu zivota,s njegovim libidom nije nesto u redu.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sigmund-freud/ko-postavlja-pitanje-o-smislu-zivota-s-njegovim-libidom-nije-nesto-u/)

[Sigmund Freud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sigmund-freud/)

> [“When it comes to the small matters in life one should think long and hard, but when it comes to the big ones -whether…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sigmund-freud/when-it-comes-to-the-small-matters-in-life-one-should-think-long-and/)

[Sigmund Freud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sigmund-freud/)

> [We like to forget that in fact everything in our life is chance, from our genesis out of the encounter of spermatozoon and egg…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sigmund-freud/we-like-to-forget-that-in-fact-everything-in-our-life-is-chance-from/)

[Sigmund Freud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sigmund-freud/)

> [We should picture the instrument that carries our mental functioning as resembling a compound microscope or photographic apparatus.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sigmund-freud/we-should-picture-the-instrument-that-carries-our-mental-functioning/)

[Sigmund Freud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sigmund-freud/)

> [The religions of mankind must be classed among the mass-delusions of this kind. No one, needless to say, who shares a delusion ever recognizes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sigmund-freud/the-religions-of-mankind-must-be-classed-among-the-mass-delusions-of/)

[Sigmund Freud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sigmund-freud/)

> [It seems to be my fate to discover only the obvious: that children have sexual feelings, which every nurse maid knows; and that the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sigmund-freud/it-seems-to-be-my-fate-to-discover-only-the-obvious-that-children/)

[Sigmund Freud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sigmund-freud/)

> [The first requisite of civilization is that of justice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sigmund-freud/the-first-requisite-of-civilization-is-that-of-justice/)

[Sigmund Freud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sigmund-freud/)

> [“Actually, the substitution of the reality-principle for the pleasure-principle denotes no dethronement of the pleasure-principle, but only a safeguarding of it. A momentary pleasure,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sigmund-freud/actually-the-substitution-of-the-reality-principle-for-the-pleasure/)

[Sigmund Freud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sigmund-freud/)

> [Dreams are often most profound when they seem the most crazy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sigmund-freud/dreams-are-often-most-profound-when-they-seem-the-most-crazy/)

[Sigmund Freud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sigmund-freud/)

> [Against the suffering which may come upon one from human relationships the readiest safeguard is voluntary isolation, keeping oneself aloof from other people. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sigmund-freud/against-the-suffering-which-may-come-upon-one-from-human/)

[Sigmund Freud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sigmund-freud/)

> [There is to my mind no doubt that the concept of beautiful had its roots in sexual excitation and that its original meaning was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sigmund-freud/there-is-to-my-mind-no-doubt-that-the-concept-of-beautiful-had-its/)

[Sigmund Freud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sigmund-freud/)

> [The voice of the intellect is soft one, but it does not rest until it has gained a hearing. Ultimately, after endless rebuffs, it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sigmund-freud/the-voice-of-the-intellect-is-soft-one-but-it-does-not-rest-until-it/)

[Sigmund Freud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sigmund-freud/)

[Explore all 608 Sigmund Freud quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sigmund-freud/)

## More Atheism-religion quotes

> [“Mr. Dawkins' assertions are self-refuting- ie. Actual infinity vs. potential infinity easily makes the most reasonable argument for theism and a Deity. Now, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-alan-woods/mr-dawkins-assertions-are-self-refuting-ie-actual-infinity-vs/)

[R. Alan Woods](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-alan-woods/)

> [“Sometimes people have been stepping so long, they have forgotten what it's like to be stepped on.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-lilly-conrad/sometimes-people-have-been-stepping-so-long-they-have-forgotten-what/)

Lauren Lilly Conrad

> [“Christianity rejects tolerance and demands choice, wherein lies its greatest flaw - one of a multitude of contradictions found throughout the Bible and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aaron-b-powell/christianity-rejects-tolerance-and-demands-choice-wherein-lies-its/)

[Aaron B. Powell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aaron-b-powell/)

Browse all 4 Atheism-religion quotes

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "“It is easy to show that the ego ideal answers to everything that is expected of the higher nature of man. As a substitute for a longing for the father, it contains the germ from which all religions have evolved.”",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Sigmund Freud"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sigmund-freud/it-is-easy-to-show-that-the-ego-ideal-answers-to-everything-that-is/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Atheism-religion"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sigmund-freud/it-is-easy-to-show-that-the-ego-ideal-answers-to-everything-that-is/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/71b/sigmund-freud-360_atheism-religion_it-is-easy-to-show-that-the-ego-ideal-an_908500.jpg",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/71b/sigmund-freud-360_atheism-religion_it-is-easy-to-show-that-the-ego-ideal-an_908500.jpg",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/71b/sigmund-freud-360_atheism-religion_it-is-easy-to-show-that-the-ego-ideal-an_908500.jpg",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“It is easy to show that the ego ideal answers to everything that is expected of the higher nature of man. As…” — Sigmund Freud",
                "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                "creator": {
                    "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                }
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Sigmund Freud",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sigmund-freud/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "“It is easy to show that...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sigmund-freud/it-is-easy-to-show-that-the-ego-ideal-answers-to-everything-that-is/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sigmund-freud/it-is-easy-to-show-that-the-ego-ideal-answers-to-everything-that-is/#breadcrumb"
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
